Cinder Block
by Demon'sEyes44
Summary: One shot that took place before Raw 8/18/14. Roman Reigns wondering why it had always been about Dean and Seth. Mentions of HHH, Undertaker,Vince and Kane.


Cinder Block

**A one shot idea of something that took place before Raw 8/18/14. Roman Reigns wondering why it had always been about Dean and Seth.** **Totally fictional and not a stab against Roman, Dean or Seth or Vince. **

Roman Reigns had no idea why, but the more he felt like getting pushed higher to climb to the top, the more he was feeling downgraded instead of feeling thrilled as it was supposed to be.

He glanced up to see Seth and Dean who were practicing their schedule match for tonight edition of Raw along with Hunter and Glenn beside them along with several crew workers who were arranging a ton of cinder blocks that would be used as the weapon to destroy Dean later. According to Seth earlier, the creative were planning to write Dean off from the scene so Dean could start his upcoming movie project. Roman watched as Glenn bending Dean over so his head was pressed against the blocks ,hands gripping Dean's arm and back so he could not move while Seth preparing to perform a Curb Stomp on Dean.

"Excellent, " Hunter commented as the blocks broke into mess of dusts, clapping on Dean's back as he helped him up. "Quite easy huh Ambrose? " Seth laughed , ruffling Dean's messy hair. "Come on Seth. I played with electric chainsaw once," Dean replied, " Of course this is just garbage," He boasted, referring to his early indie days. "Maybe we can have that insane when the movie is done, Hunter?" Seth turned to Hunter. "You had to ask Vince," He shrugged. " They can work for a steel cage match or something," Glenn suggested. "I hope so, this storyline is getting awesome," Seth said. " Right. Ambrose kept losing is gonna leave the fans craving more for this feud," Hunter agreed.

Why it was so easy for both of them to get awesome matches and getting praises like that? Roman pondered as he wiped off his sweating face as he sat leaning against the barricade while Sheamus and Orton were still boxing each other. RVD and the duo Ryback and Axel were chatting something with the trainers outside the ring. He could not take his eyes off Seth and Dean who were still talking to Hunter and Glenn. At another corner Vince and his daughter Stephanie were rehearsing promo with the Bella twins .

It had always been about both of them, ever since the Shield days right until when the group splitting up. Though Vince promised Roman would be getting big push towards championship, Roman had always felt like out of place compared to Dean and Seth. Sure, Roman was portrayed as a top babyface who kept winning every week but the more and more he looked into it, the more Roman felt like Vince was trying to groom him into Cena 2.0. He was given easy winning matches every week on TV, pushed to main event despite losing to John Cena on two PPVs to give way for Brock Lesnar to be the WWE champion. Even Daniel was more over than him, Roman thought miserably. Seth often joked about how easy Roman was getting into main storyline while he and Dean had to climb their way to the top, but the truth was, he was only getting a push because of his family name, as everybody had always knew. Roman heard the whispers in the locker room, he read a lot of online article and the most painful of all, he could see disappointment in Hunter's eyes looking at him everytime he and Vince getting into arguments about the three future talents of the company. It was obvious that Hunter preferred Seth and Dean better, but Vince as usual would overrule his son of law, determined to still carry Roman first and most likely will set him up against Lesnar in the future.

He had accidentally overhead a conversation between Hunter and Glenn in the backstage arena a few days before when they did not realize him eavesdropping behind the tons of boxes where he was hiding.

"_Getting real tired of Vince lately," Hunter complained, "If it wasn't for the fact I married his daughter I would probably had gave up on this company long time ago,"_

_"You mean giving up on his money," Glenn joked, resulting in Hunter punching his arm. "Aww," he groaned but still laughed a little. "Seriously, man. I don't understand why he wanted to push Reigns so fast. He was going to make Reigns winning the title after Nights of Champion," Hunter said, "But I'd rather have the Rollins kid win it first. I mean he was playing top heel right now, he should have won the title even if it means The Authority butting in again. I mean , isn't that how heels are supposed to win, right?"_

_"Let me guess, Cena winning Night of Champion and Rollins cashing in on the spot, right? Then Ambrose would interfere again," Glenn said, "Exactly. Then he would get beaten by Kane and the superhero would came flying in to rescue the day. Then The Authority had to set a fatal four way match for the title which Reigns would win," Hunter groaned. "More like Cena version 2.0." Glenn nodded, "Where do Orton fits in this all? " "I don't know yet. Perhaps Vince 's going to put him against Kane. Something like that."_

_"Typical Vince. It took him almost half and a year for him to give Bryan the title and stole it back in just a blink of an eye," Glenn said, "Yet people like Reigns getting pushed high like a sky rocket,"  
_

_"Thats right. I mean, people were more interested in watching this Rollins against Ambrose feud rather than seeing Reigns winning matches after matches every week. How they made him look more and more like Cena everytime on tv. Reigns was not really bad, but I just think he should wait like one or two years more to be totally ready to carry the WWE title," Hunter said. "Agreed. Reigns really need to improve his in-ring skills. He was great, he was really awesome, but I have to say that Rollins and Ambrose can perform way much better," Glenn said._

Rollins and Ambrose can perform much better. Something Roman was nearly sick to death of hearing the words often since the debut of The Shield days right to the current ones. Roman messed things up. Screwed this. Botched that. Gotta practise harder. Rollins and Ambrose everywhere.

He was getting tired of being compared to both of his best friends. Last night Summerslam had proved everything. Roman was so disappointed he was only given a regular match against Randy, which he had faced like a thousand times while Seth and Dean participate in lumberjack match to which everyone overwhelmingly react to the match. Seth winning with Kane's help did not seem to bother a bit, people talking about the match non stop about how Dean and Seth carried the whole match in exciting momentum like the one they had in the previous Money in the bank PPV. Nobody mention his match against Orton, nobody complimented how outstanding his performance was, everybody centered around Lesnar and Cena ,Dean and Seth and even Stephanie against the Bella lady was getting more reaction than Roman's match. It was killing him to realize that the creative put him in lousy or predictable matches every week, shoving Kane or Randy into his face that people already knew the result. Even the last man standing match stipulation against Kane last week did not seem to effect much since the fans could already read the outcome of the match-that Kane was only there to play jobbing against him. Or it it wasn't for the regular authority henchmen, he was put into simple match against any one from the locker room. But when it comes to Seth and Dean segments.. Hunter would make sure they would deliver greatest promos and maximum- impact match. Which only brought Roman more to depression- that the boss' son-in-law had always rooting for Dean and Seth since day one.

The same case could be seen last year-during their great Shield days when Undertaker had came to stick around a little bit after Wrestlemania. His kayfabe brother Glenn had convinced him to do a favor for the Shield boys and as well as for Daniel Bryan, ( who still a part of team Hell No back then), talking him into trying a six man tag team match.

_"You, blonde kid, whats your name? I think I had saw you somewhere else before," Mark (as they had called him), immediately was drawn to Dean the moment he met them in the gym. "Ambrose, Sir. My name's Dean Ambrose. I used to work indy before as Jon Moxley" Dean replied gracefully. "Oh. No wonder you are so familiar. I used to watch one of your bloody show. You are really the Moxley kid. You're so tough, back then." Mark had said. "Why, thank you Mr. Calaway," Dean could not help smiling. "Daniel and Seth used to work indy too. You should see their work in ROH, they were superb, " Glenn said. " I know. Bryan is the one they called the Dragon, right? " Mark said, and Daniel nodded his head in excitement. "And Rollins here .. That evil Hunter made me watch one of your show in NXT. You really good, kid. No surprise Hunter always talk about you," He added , causing Seth to blush a little as he grinned proudly. "Thanks," He said. Finally Mark set his sight on Roman, clearly looking unimpressed. "You must be that Anoai kid." He said. "Yes, sir. You can call me Joseph or Roman," Roman introduced himself but Mark only nodded his head,did not adding any more compliment like he did to Daniel, Seth and Dean. Vince or Glenn had probably talked about his boring background story that Mark had nothing to comment about him, aside from being The Rock's cousin and related to Rikishi family._

It was obvious for the rest of the evening that Mark were more interested in Dean and Seth. After the match on Raw, they all headed out for dinner in the local restaurant that Roman spend an awkward silence as Daniel, Seth and Dean began to talk to Mark about their early independent days and then bringing up some kind of discussion about classic WCW and pre-attitude era of WWF , to which Roman had no slightest clue of how to chime in. The moment Glenn realized in pity of how Roman was being left out of the conversation, he had tried to console him by beginning to talk about his Attitude Era days where Kane and Undertaker were feuding with The Rock and Rikishi, so Roman had something to rejoin the discussion. But Roman had never felt so pathetic and out of place in his life . To add the salt to injury, the next night during Smackdown taping, Vince had suggested Taker go one on one match with a member of the Shield, in which he suggested Roman, but Mark refused and had picked Dean instead. "_Always wanna fight a Moxley. You remind me of Brock Lesnar,kiddo," Mark had remarked then._

It had always been about Seth and Dean, no matter how much Vince had tried to convince him that he was going to get the major push but at the end of the day he knew it was only because he carried his family's name. Had he had came from a background like Dean or Seth, he would probably still be stuck in the NXT developmental, just like his former co workers Adrian Neville or Corey Graves who still did not get to main roster despite their good performance and skill.

"Earth to Roman," Suddenly Seth appeared out of nowhere ,waving a hand towel in front of Roman, whom he had noticed looking quite lost inside his thoughts. "Hey," Roman greeted, slightly embarrassed. "What you been thinking? You seemed so faraway there," Dean commented from behind Seth. "Nothing. Just missing my daughter, thats all." Roman lied as he moved from his spot and pretended to stretch out his body a little. "Are you sure? Coz you look like having serious deep," Seth grinned. "Really. I'm cool." Roman said, approaching the workers who were cleaning up the dust left behind the broken cinder blocks. "You are knocking Dean out tonight? " He turned to Seth who was standing beside him. "Yup," He said. "The heel winning again." He said. "Until superman Punch knock his ass back," Dean joked, "And spear the monster Kane to death, " Seth added, causing him and Dean to bark into laughter again.

Roman wanted to thought the joke was funny, but somehow he could not figure out it was really funny or Seth and Dean seriously were mocking him. "Ha ha ha. Seth tried to be funny here," He finally shot back, hoping he did not sound too much a fool. " Seriously man. You are on winning streak and Dean's here going to be Hollywood," Seth said,grinning. "Wait until this Hollywood return and curb stomp your ass again," Dean laughed. "I thought you were the authority favourite toyboy now," Roman teased, causing Seth to glare at him. " Not as much as golden boy here. He 's the WWE favourite devil now, this Samoan dropper, right, big guy? " Seth punched Roman's large chest playfully. "Shut up, Rollins, " Roman laughed as he picked a piece of the block and studied the material with interest. "This thing must hurt," He mumbled.

"No shit, Sherlock," Dean shrugged as he picked another one and smashed it against the rest of the blocks, causing it to be broken to ashes of white powder. "Don't worry, if Dean can survive electric chainsaw and cheese grater surely he can handle those pussies," Seth grinned. "Thats the good thing of being indy,you know. You got to take loads of shit- bleeding and nearly died," Dean shrugged.

Talk about being in indy days, Roman thought here I was sitting on WWE belt because of my family name, he added silently.

"Yo, future champ," Dean clapped on Roman's back . "You alright there? "He asked.

"I'm fine, Ambrose," Roman replied grumpily. "You sure just missing your daughter? You seemed different lately, Roman," Dean remarked as he pushed his hair behind his face. " What on earth you're talking about? " Roman tried to fake out a laugh, hoping either Seth or Dean did not notice his nervous voice. Was he that obvious? " You're changed. Since The Shield splitting up and we carried on our own way..You did not seem to talk really much nowadays." Dean said. "Yeah Roman. I kinda notice too. You're not the same when we still in the group. Its like... you tried to distance a little bit from us." Seth agreed, seemed hesitated when he spoke. "Come on guys. Don't be ridiculous. I'm still the usual me. Maybe you both just imagining things because we are ..like now were separating ways,?" Roman tried to laugh but Dean and Seth remained silent. "I don't know. We thought maybe you..you know, need some space or something," Seth said quietly. " Right.. Considering they want you to be the one conquering Lesnar next year," Dean added, "We figure out you gotta do what you have to."

"What the.. What the hell you both trying to say? "

"Oh come on Roman. We're not gonna take a shot at you. We know how you feel with this championship storyline. Look,we got it okay. We got that in one way or another you gotta be the man. The World Heavyweight Champion. The WWE champion. And you gonna conquer the Beast in Wrestlemania next year. So we understand if.. you know.. you feel like we are not the same level anymore. Sooner or later The authority stuff going to disappear and Seth and I..will have to carry on our own after that. We are just gonna be another locker room guys,. But you got a bright future ahead of you. You don't have to worry a thing. Its people like us that have to struggle to make our way to the top. Hell , maybe we could even break halfway through, I don't know. But you.. you are so lucky. You know that. Hey,everybody knows that."

Dean finally finished.

"Whoa. Whoa." Roman was quite astonished. He had never realized Dean and Seth had actually thought of him that way while he himself was depressed into thinking of how people kept comparing him to both of his friends. "How the hell.. You know I never think of you guys like that. We've been like brothers even since the Shield was formed. How could you both .. could even think that I -" Roman wanted to speak but he felt like speechless, like a lump formed in his throat. Like there was so may things he wanted to clarify to Dean and Seth but the words were missing from somewhere in his mind. "I-I-" He wanted to continue but he was once again frozen when he saw Glenn and Hunter approaching them. " Dean, Seth, we gotta do this again, " Hunter said, not realizing the three young superstars were at disdain. " Roman, you are done with your practise?" Glenn asked , pointing at Randy, Sheamus and RVD who were still lingering inside the ring. "Oh yeah,we are done, I guess, " Roman nodded. " Then come with me. Vince asked me to train you some more, come on," Glenn instructed.

Roman nodded as he watched Seth and Dean glanced at him one last time before they followed Hunter out of the arena. He couldn't help staring again at the ruined pieces of the cinder blocks ,collecting dusts of powder on the floor.

Much like The Shield, the once brotherhood of life had been shattered to nothing but ashes on the ground.


End file.
